Homebrew Emerald Gemticore (by Baskerevil) Species Details
Creation Myth
An old legend is still believed in Gemticore society. It tells a story of a half-elf, half-dragon, and half-giant fighting against mystically empowered Manticore. The battle ended with all four dying, but as their blood and soil beneath them mixed, a new type of creature emerged carrying the legacy of the four who fell. Either truth of fiction, Gemticores embrace traditions, customs, language and everything they can based on the foundation races. Therefore, society of Gemticores circle around various different aspects of dragons, giants and elves.
Almost all individuals of this race live in a pocket dimension island which resides on an intersection point of various worlds and realms, so, sole individuals of this race could be found in different worlds going on a trading trips or gathering diplomatic information, however, very few strangers are invited back into Gemticore Realm.
Society
Gemticore society is interestingly structure. It is split into three spheres of influence: economical, magical, and militaristic.
Economical part of Gemticore society is ran by mostly "Emerald" Gemticores: focused on trade, various forms of crafts, and even typically responsible for diplomatic relationship with various world and nations. This part of Gemticore society is the most open to other cultures and lead by a council of "Emerald" Gemticores. This council is elected through democratic process with all artisanship leaders voting in secret.
Militaristic part of Gemticore society is ran by almost exclusively "Amethyst" Gemticores who are enrolled into various combat training schools almost since birth. Male "Amethyst" Gemticores are trained as foot soldiers and Female ones are trained as tacticians, leaders of military actions. This part of Gemticore society is very strictly segregated by gender and follows the most rigged rules in Gemticore society, though, there are few good reason to do so. Gemticore native realm often being assaulted by various cosmic threats and thus having a strong military is essential for their race to survive.
The last part of Gemticore society is ruled by any Gemticore who possesses aptitude towards magic, though, it is mostly "Ghost Diamond" Gemticores. This part of their society focus on researching magical forces, creating magical items and trying to create more powerful magic to assist their own society. Members of the magical society are very secretive and prefer to do their own research without involvement of anyone else who could steal the credit and research material, thus it "Ghost Diamond" Gemticores prefer company and assistance only from those who do not possess any magical abilities.
Biology
Gemticores are natural creatures to their own plane, however, they have very little interaction with creatures of other planes. It is not known if Gemticores can reproduce with other races, though, it likely some other creatures (like dragons or orcs) might have a compatible biology.
Gemticore biology is quite unique. They start their lives as eggs, however, after hatching the young Gemticores develop the same way as most mammals. They remain dependent on their parents for the first year of their life, but grow up fast. By the age of 1 they can already walk, fly, talk and even scavenge for food. They are blessed with a dangerous stingers, though, it start produce venom only when they are at least 3 years old.
Like true dragons, Gemticores do not become senile. After maturing, they do not change much and grow only more powerful with age. Their minds and fangs remain sharp even after a hundred years, their poison remain potent for hundreds of years, so, technically Gemticores could live for an undetermined amount of years. However, they have very limited amount of living space and a culture custom exists within their society that every member of their race either becomes exiled or end their own life on their 250th birthday. Therefore, it is very hard to research and know the exact course of their life beyond this point.
Right now Gemticores split into three distinctive sub-races: amethysts, emerald, and ghost diamond. There is barely no mixing between different variants of their own race, so in next few thousands of years these three could eventually evolve into different races, but right now they are very similar and differ in only few minor ways, excluding the fact each sub-race produces very different type of venom.
Emerald Infusion
Some "Emerald" Gemticores call themselves without mentioning the gemstone typing, because they believe that they are descents of the original race and didn't change at last in past few thousands of years. Though, other believe that "Emerald" Gemticores are the most distant from the original race, because they believe that this variant appeared when ancient traders and crafters ventured out from their home realm, bred with people of other realms, and then their children came back with them. Those children then were named as "Emerald" Gemticores, though, more often than not this story is used to demean and degrade "Emerald" Gemticores.
It may be impossible to know now whether "Emerald" Gemticores the closets one to their own original race or the most distant, however, based on circumstantial evidence and the fact that Gemticores cannot have children with most other humanoid races - it would be unlikely that this sub-race exists due to mingling with other races. Though, there could be an alternative explanation for existence of this sub-race, because most gateways leading out of the Gemticore real glow with emerald-green light.
Pretty much all "Emerald" Gemticores become traders, artisans, ambassadors or adventurers. They call it "a call of spirit" - it represents their innate desire to create, to explore, to create connections and to never stop seeking better things. Any accomplished member of this sub-race eventually joins the artisan guild, become a voting member of their economic society and seek to eventually be elected into economic council. To this day all members of this council were "Emerald" Gemticores, though, members of other two sub-races came close to joining the council many times. Elections is held based on merit and connections, so sometimes an "Amethyst" or "Ghost Diamond" Gemticores who join the artisan guild can show enough merit to be considered for the council, but most often than not they lack sufficient connections to actually achieve a position in the council. And being a member of a council is a huge honor, not even mentioning that it also opens up various opportunities to make business. Not only within Gemticore society, but also because any outsider seeking to trade always have to deal with council first.
Emerald Gemticore (by Baskerevil) Traits
As a Gemticore, you have these special traits.Ability Score Increases
When determining your character’s ability scores, increase one score by 2 and a different one by 1, or increase three scores by 1. None of these increases can raise a score above 20.
Age
Members of your race typically mature in 6 years and become full fledged adults in Gemticore society at the age of 8. Typically, an individual of this race live about 250 years, however, Gemticores do not appear to be weakened by old age and typically do not die from an old age.
Creature type
Your creature type is a monstrosity. Moreover, you are also considered as a humanoid for any prerequisite or effect requiring you to be a humanoid creature.
Languages
You know common, draconic, elvish and giant languages. You can write, read and speak in these languages, but your use of these languages is crude and basic. Moreover, you can also speak a special Gemticore Language which incorporates elements of all of these four languages.
Pawns and Wings
You can walk as normal and you can also fy. Your walking speed is 30 feet. You can use your wings for flight at a speed of 30 feet, but you cannot use this flying speed if you're wearing medium or heavy armor.
Darkvision
You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.
Emerald Stinger
You have a tail with a stinger that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with it, the strike deals (1d6 + your Strength modifier) piercing damage.
Also, when you hit with your stinger, you can use your bonus action to attempt to poison your target. Your target must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (save DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus) or take (1d6 + your Constitution modifier) acid damage.
Green Gemticore Roar
As an action you can channel your lifeforce into forceful roar and force all hostile creatures within 15 feet of you to make a Strength Saving Throw (save DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus). Any creature who fails their save will pushed directly away from you up to 15 feet.
You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. Regain all expended uses on a long rest.
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